


Sleep with the Fishes

by Metal_Chocobo



Series: Need a Hook [5]
Category: Women's Hockey RPF
Genre: F/F, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 09:03:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6000031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metal_Chocobo/pseuds/Metal_Chocobo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Until Charline Labonté walked out of their cabin Julie had been looking forward to this trip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep with the Fishes

“Are you certain this is the right place?” Julie asked as Caro pulled up to a lit up cabin. “Looks like it’s already occupied.”

“Yep, I specifically reserved number thirteen,” Caro replied, smiling at her. While most people avoided that number, Julie and Caro both wore it for their respective national teams. For them it was a lucky number and they were almost always able to reserve it. However, it didn’t seem to be working out with their cabin rental today.

“I think there’s been a mistake. Why else is there a car already parked here?”

“It’s fine, Julie. I recognize the car.”

Before Julie could ask who else Caro apparently invited on what she thought was a private vacation Charline Labonté walked out of the cabin. A grin spread over Caro’s face as she got out of her truck. She immediately enveloped Charline in a bear hug. As soon as they separated they broke into rapid French. 

Julie stared dumbly out the windshield. She couldn’t believe Caro had invited one of her national teammates without telling her. Since the NCAA hockey season was finally over Shannon had given them both a real break for the first time since Julie came to Duluth. It was in part to make up for the lack of any time off in the weeks leading up to their university hosting the Frozen Four. Julie had been looking forward to the chance to unwind and decompress with her girlfriend. Now she’d have to be on her best behavior at all times to avoid causing an incident; the US and Canadian National Women’s Hockey teams didn’t get on well.

If she had known Charline had also been invited on this Thunder Bay trip Julie would have just stayed in Duluth. That was probably why Caro didn’t tell her.

“Caro, you must introduce me to your blonde,” Charline insisted as Julie exited the vehicle. Julie frowned when she heard that. Surely Caro had never described her in such inapplicable terms. It must mean something else in French. She didn’t speak the language.

“Certainly, though it seems a touch superfluous since you already since you already know Julie,” Caro beamed. She walked over to Julie and wrapped an arm around her waist. This was the first time Julie had seen Caro this excited off the ice. Obviously this meeting meant a lot to Caro. “Julie, Charlie is my best friend. I hope you both do not mind the surprise, but I have wanted to spend quality time with the both of you for years.”

“No, this is fine,” Julie lied through her teeth as she barred them at Charline. She hated being dishonest, but Caro looked so earnest about them forging a friendship she couldn’t disappoint her. If she tried hard enough, maybe Julie would believe it by the end of the weekend. After all, if she could fall for Caro, surely Julie could become friends with Canada’s starting goalie. It would work. Hopefully.

Charline seemed to be running the same gauntlet of emotions because she sported an equally pained smile. “You’ve wanted this for years? How long have you two been dating?”

“Four months,” Julie said. Charline visibly relaxed.

“And they have been the happiest of my life,” Caro said. She kissed Julie’s temple. “It’s far better than anything I imagined when I harbored a crush.”

“Flatterer.”

“I’m simply telling the truth,” Caro said. Julie couldn’t help smiling at that. Caro was so firm in her conviction that Julie was the best thing in the world. If She didn’t already know at least two-dozen amazing women and spend every day with the best of them, her ego would swell to unbearably large proportions. Julie was so fond of Caro.

“I took the smaller room overlooking the lake since I know you were bringing… her,” Charline said. “Do you need help with your bags?”

“No,” Caro said, pulling away from Julie. With practiced ease she hauled both their suitcases out of the back of her pickup. “We didn’t pack that much.”

As Caro ambled into the cabin Charline gave Julie a long hard stare. She wasn’t smiling anymore. Julie tried to project a friendly and calm demeanor. She didn’t have anything to hide. Without saying a word Charline sniffed loudly then turned and followed Caro inside. Julie rolled her eyes and internally groaned. It was clear her girlfriend’s best friend found her utterly lacking. Julie was an optimist by nature, but she couldn’t see this turning out well. As she walked up to the cabin she kissed any chance of enjoying the weekend goodbye.

Dinner was a quiet affair. Typically Julie chattered through the meal while Caro listened attentively, but tonight she barely spoke. When asked about her silence Julie simply brushed it off as tiredness, which was plausible after a full day’s work and three and a half hour car ride. Charline was equally recalcitrant when Caro tried to engage with her, insisting that making dinner had worn her out. Caro didn’t push her further, but it was clear she didn’t believe her friend. It was a lovely meal, though Julie had to wonder if Charline would have put in the same effort if she had known whom Caro was bringing.

Near the end of the meal Julie tried talking directly to Charline. She didn’t want to, but Caro looked frustrated and she didn’t want to upset her girlfriend. Even if Caro did deserve it after she sprung this unexpected togetherness on them.

“How have you been?” Julie asked Charline. “I know we just saw each other in Harbin, but it’s been a weird two weeks for Caro and me.”

“You’re still dealing with jetlag,” Caro said.

“Well yeah, USA Hockey’s yanked me back and forth across the country,” Julie laughed. “This is only the second time we’ve won Worlds.”

“You did quite well for yourself,” Charline said. “Seven assists in five games is impressive.”

“I didn’t do anything special,” Julie said. “Natalie and Jenny were the team’s real workhorses.”

“I’m aware,” Charline snapped. “Your four assists against me were on their goals!”

“I think it’s time for dessert,” Caro announced, rising from her seat.

Even ice cream and apple pie didn’t improve the situation. Julie appreciated the gesture, Charline must have brought them in honor of Caro’s American girlfriend, but she just wasn’t hungry. Luckily Caro finished her piece and then Julie’s as well. Charline declined the pie and retired to her room early. The tension lingered after she left and followed Julie and Caro into the bedroom.

“Did I screw everything up?” Caro asked. She pulled the covers over her shoulders. “I should have told you, both of you, what I was planning.”

“You should have,” Julie agreed. She rolled over and curled up against Caro’s back. Her girlfriend sighed and relaxed when Julie’s fingers slipped across her side, coming to a rest under her breast. “And I forgive you for springing Labonté on me. I know you had the best intentions at heart. You want us to like each other as much as we like you.”

“Well, not quite that much,” Caro amended. Julie tickled her at that, causing the other woman to kick and squirm. 

“I’m not interested in goalies.”

“Good.”

Julie buried her nose in the back of Caro’s neck and breathed deeply. She didn’t associate any scents in particular with her. Generally Caro used whatever hygiene products were handy, always took the spare hotel soap home with her. She kept a fishbowl stuffed full of individually wrapped bars from her travels. She liked to offer them to guests if they weren’t comfortable with sharing. Julie unwrapped one the first time or two she borrowed Caro’s shower, then dropped the practice because it was silly.

No, what Julie homed in on was Caro’s solidity. Her body was firm, strong, and not about to go anywhere. She made Julie feel safe. If that was really true she ought to be able to share her real feelings. Caro was Caro. She would understand.

“I thought this was our first trip as a couple,” Julie said.

“It is. Of course it is!” Caro craned her head back trying to look at Julie. Her hand engulfed the one Julie pressed into her side. “You’re not saying…”

“Of course not! I really like you.”

“I love you.”

“I thought we’d get the chance to act like a couple on this trip. You know, be ourselves in a way we can’t be at work.”

“We can do that in front of Charlie.”

“No, we can’t. I can’t.” Julie shook her head. “I don’t know her, which means I can’t trust her. Not about this.”

“Charlie’s a good person. She couldn’t out you or do anything else to intentionally hurt you.”

“I know that,” Julie said. She refrained from adding that she only believed Charline wouldn’t because that could hurt Caro as well. Julie avoided thinking about how she was going to tell her national teammates she was dating Caro. Angela would flip.

“Then why worry?”

“Because I’m human and I can’t help it,” Julie said. Even in her own head the idea that Charline could talk Caro out of dating her seemed absurd, but the thought persisted. In a surprisingly short amount of time Caro had become precious to Julie. While she could still imagine her future without the other woman, she didn’t want to.

Caro didn’t have a response to Julie’s voiced reason, so she shrugged and went to sleep. Julie did her best to follow suit. She hoped things would be better in the morning.

They weren’t. At some point between dinner and breakfast Charline had lost the ability to speak English. All of her discourse was directed at Caro in French. When Julie tried speaking to her the goalie completely ignored her. The day just got worse from there.

As they explored the city Caro had to act as a go between for literally every interaction between Julie and Charline. Every suggestion had to be repeated in both languages and, while Charline seemed uninterested in Julie’s words, Caro had to translate what she said for Julie. While normally Caro didn’t mind translating for Julie, it was obviously taxing her today. Probably because Charline spoke fluent English, but refused to do so because it made things more difficult for Julie.

Everything came to a head when negotiations over lunch broke down. Charline was completely unwilling to compromise and Julie’s generally pleasant manner had evaporated after the day’s repeated exclusions. Julie told Caro to take her friend wherever she liked because she was heading back to the cabin for the rest of the day. She was sick of being excluded and could read a book while Caro caught up with her real friend. Julie got it; she was just a placeholder while Caro was stuck in Duluth until she could go back to the people that really mattered in Montreal. Charline didn't have to rub in how poor of a match they were long term. Julie already knew, even if she didn’t like thinking about it.

Caro stared at her as if Julie had just slapped her. Julie regretted it the moment the words left her mouth. It was true, Julie was certain Caro had better options back home, but she never wanted to hurt her. If given time, she knew she would grow to love Caro and they could have a happy future together. However, Julie may have just lost any chance of that happening because she lashed out in anger.

“Caro,” Charline said, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

Caro batted her hand away and turned on the woman. Harsh angry French spewed forth and while Julie had no idea what Caro said, she regretted the words immensely. It was her fault Caro was attacking Charline. She was the one who had caused this pain.

Charline stared at Caro, completely gobsmacked, until the second pause in Caro’s rant. Then she shouted back with the same fervor and intensity Caro used. Both women were crying. Julie didn’t know what to do, nor what they were saying as the argument increased in intensity. Charline got louder, while Caro’s tone became harsher. The locals gave them wide berth, unwilling to go anywhere near the furious women. Julie wanted to calm the situation down, but was certain any more actions on her part would rile both women up even further.

She caught the words ‘Ruggiero’ and ‘Cassie’ bandied about the argument. Ruggiero had to be Angela Ruggiero, Julie’s national teammate, which meant Cassie referred to Cassie Campbell, the Canadians’ respective teammate. They had the most intense US-Canadian rivalry Julie had ever seen. The level of vitriol Angela reserved solely for Campbell wasn’t healthy. Julie didn’t have a clue why they’d be talking about them, since their relationship was nothing like the one she had with Caro. None of this made any sense.

Charline shouted what must have been a profanity and stormed away. Caro watched her leave, panting heavily as she tried to calm down. Julie waited until Charline was out of sight before approaching her girlfriend.

“Caro?” Julie asked.

“You were never a place holder,” Caro hissed. “You ought to know that by now.”

Julie said nothing. She wanted to apologize, but that would upset her further. Caro believed in actions, not words. There was nothing she could do right now to show she was sorry. However, if Caro wanted to talk for once, she would gladly listen.

“I have been smitten with you since Salt Lake City,” Caro said. “What I feel for you is not fleeting. If I had my way, I would spend the rest of my life waking up beside you.”

“I would like that as well,” Julie admitted. She smiled earnestly at Caro for the first time since getting out of the truck. Caro didn’t smile back, which made Julie’s grin fade. “I didn’t realize the depth of your emotions.”

“No you didn’t,” Caro agreed. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “I just had the worst fight of my life with my best friend over you, Julie. No matter what Charlie, or Wicks, or anyone else says, I love you. Nothing is going to change that. But right now I need some time to myself.”

“I understand.” Julie stepped in and feathered a kiss onto Caro’s cheek. “Just… be safe.”

Caro lingered for a moment longer, kissed Julie’s forehead, and walked away. Julie paused to compose herself. With a half formed plan in place she set off in Charline’s direction. She was either going to talk some sense into the goalie or kill her.

“Labonté!” Julie shouted the moment she spotted her. Charline was seated on a park bench just above the pebbled shore.

Charline’s head jerked up. She stared in disbelief as Julie approached her. By the time Julie sat down on the bench beside her the goalie’s face had twisted into a scowl. Julie plastered on a serene look, determined to wait out the other woman. The both stared at Lake Superior. A few ships lazily sailed past and eventually some clouds covered the sun.

“What do you want?” Charline demanded, breaking the silence. Julie refrained from smirking when she flawlessly switched back to English.

“A truce,” Julie said.

“Why would I agree to anything with you?”

“Because I think we’ve both hurt Caro enough.”

“You’ve hurt Caro!” Charline snarled. “I didn’t say those nasty awful things to her. I was trying to protect her! You’re the same sort of monster as Ruggiero!”

“You hurt her by intentionally being as awful as possible to make this weekend a disaster,” Julie snapped. She held a hand up to halt Charline before she could yell at her again. “No, we both screwed up and while I don’t expect you to like me, I assume you’d also want to make her feel better.”

“I would never hurt Caro,” Charline said.

“I hate to break it to you, Charlie, but you did,” Julie said. “All she wanted was for us to get along. I never meant to hurt her either.”

“If she could have just fallen for someone sensible none of this would have happened!” Charline wailed. The anger was gone from her voice leaving only despair. “Literally, anyone not on the American hockey team would have been fine, but no, she had to pick you.”

“What exactly is so wrong with me?” Julie demanded. “Sure, we’re rivals, but Caro and I are more than our nationalities.”

“I don’t want her ending up like Cassie.”

“Okay, seriously, what’s the deal with Campbell and Rugger? You’ve mentioned them repeatedly.”

“You don’t know?” Charline asked. Julie glared at her. “I thought everyone knew.”

“I don’t.”

“They’re… antagonistically dating and it gets pretty rough,” Charline explained diplomatically. Julie blinked in surprise at this unexpected revelation. Charline cleared her throat. “I don’t want that sort of relationship for Caro. She wasn’t built to hate. If you twist her like that she’d break and I wouldn’t be able to put her back together!” Charline burst into tears.

“I wasn’t built to hate either,” Julie said slowly. She wrapped an arm around Charline’s shoulders and pulled her to her chest. “I would never try to turn her into something she’s not. I… I love Caro the way she is.”

“I love Caro. She’s my best friend,” Charline snapped. “If you ever harm her again like you did today I will make you sleep with the fishes!”

“I can’t promise I’ll never hurt her—I did without meaning to today—but I’ll never be intentionally vindictive. If we did break up, I know losing her would be excruciating and I imagine she’d feel the same. However, I promise I’ll always treat her the way she deserves to be treated, with honesty, love, and respect.”

Charline nodded, accepting Julie’s promise. She wiped her eyes then rose. Turning to Julie she offered her a hand. “Come on, let’s pick up something easy to take back to the cabin,” Charline said. “I’m starving and Caro always forgets to eat when she’s upset.”

“Sure,” Julie smiled, taking her hand. “I’d like that.”

When they got back to the cabin they found Caro sitting on the couch in the dark. She startled when Julie dumped their takeout on the coffee table in front of her. Caro’s eyes darted between Julie and Charline.

“What’s this?” Caro asked.

“Battered cod and poutine,” Julie said, dropping onto the cushion to Caro’s right.

“Beer too,” Charline added, setting down a six-pack from the fridge. She took the seat to Caro’s left.

“I don’t understand,” Caro said.

“We realized we were being jerks,” Julie said.

“So Julie forced a truce,” Charline said. She popped open bottles for the three of them.

“That’s wonderful,” Caro laughed, glancing between them. “Am I dreaming?”

“No, but I’m sorry you had to suggest that to explain why we were getting along,” Julie said. “We’re both sorry for our behavior.”

“While waiting for our order Julie and I agreed we’d do whatever you wanted to do tomorrow,” Charline said. “That’s our real apology.”

“Neither of you will complain if we spend all day in a boat fishing?” Caro asked, eyes shining.

Julie groaned. She couldn’t help it. It was bad enough when Caro had them fish for hours after work, but at least she could get up and walk along the shore. That wouldn’t be possible on a boat. Instead she’d be stuck in a life jacket trying to not tumble into bitterly cold waters. To her belated surprise she realized Charline was also groaning. Caro burst out laughing.

“I’m joking. I know both of you only put up with fishing for me,” Caro grinned. She wrapped one arm around Julie and the other around Charline to hug them both. “No, I will pick something we can all enjoy.”

“Great,” Julie laughed. She leaned into Caro, tucking her head under Caro’s chin.

“Now let’s eat,” Charline said. She leaned forward and opened one of the Styrofoam containers. “Mmm, poutine.”

Both Canadians took a handful of the fries and curds slathered in gravy. Julie watched in fascination as they slurped down the mess. Caro coffered the box to Julie.

“Have some,” Caro offered.

“Oh no, you guys are enjoying it far more than I ever could,” Julie said.

“Chicken,” Charline said. “Go on, try it. You’ll love it.”

“And if you don’t, that’s fine too,” Caro said. “I’ll still love you.”

“Though Quebec will never forgive you,” Charline said.

Julie rolled her eyes, but picked up a handful. With only mild hesitation she shoved the poutine into her mouth. The fries were soggy and the gravy far too salty, but it could have been worse. At the others’ inquisitive stares she shrugged. They laughed. After a moment Julie joined in too. Caro leaned down and kissed her. Julie eagerly responded, even though Caro tasted like poutine. There was no place on earth Julie would rather be than with Caro in this very moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Once Charline finally realized Julie was kind and pure of heart, without an plans to secretly hurt Caro, they became great friends.


End file.
